The View Communications

by Sue Skeats, 21 December 2009

OMG. Have retailers gone mad?

Post-Copenhagen, have they lost any sense of environmental urgency? Why then over this sub-zero weekend, did virtually every shop in Guildford have its doors wide open? With heaters merrily pumping hot air out into the street. And all the staff inside blue with cold.

Do they imagine we'll think they're shut if their doors are closed - and that we don't have the wit or bravado to push them open?

Thumbs up to Kew, the only retailer we saw with a closed-door/keep-the-heat-in policy. Just a shame they needed a hand-written notice on the door to tell people why. Wonder if they're working it as a PR positive.

Patio heaters, the main-in-the-street equivalent, are now deemed socially unacceptable, but that kind of individual responsibility apparently doesn't work for retailers. But if all shops had to keep their doors shut, they'd save on heating, but more importantly they wouldn't waste resources. We'll stick it down on our political wish list for next year.

All the great corporate social responsibility campaigns in the world are a bit meaningless when such profligacy is widespread. Stupid, stupid, stupid.